In a new Nature Physics study, researchers demonstrated the Aharonov-Bohm effect in a quantum simulation of a lattice gauge theory using a hybrid trapped-ion quantum computer.

Gauge theories describe how matter interacts through fields called gauge fields, which carry the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces. They form the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics. In lattice gauge theories, space is modeled as a grid with matter at the vertices and gauge fields on the links connecting them.

Quantum simulators offer a way to study these theories. However, most quantum simulations of the simplest version—the Z₂ lattice gauge theory—have been limited to one spatial dimension, where effects linked to magnetic flux cannot appear.